Constant-reader Grant Hargrave (a Canadian who's had the incredible luck to live in Paris for the past several years) writes to remind me that while I have published my idea of hot setups for the F2 and F3 BRM, I omitted to do likewise for the full-zoot F1 BRM. So he took the bull by the horns, and, "After reading your thing about the 400hp go-kart (Wolf Woeger's "zero-compliance" approach to chassis settings), I went to Monza, jumped in my BRM, bumped up the roll bars and wheel rates by an arbitrary amount, and improved my best BRM time by a significant amount. The car was much more controllable--it felt like there was glue on the tires. I did three laps, set my best time (no spins; that too may be a record), and the only way I could lose it was by trying to take the Curva Grande at full tilt."
Grant omitted to include his settings, so I took a stab at implementing Wolfi's thesis myself:
(N.B. The last three numbers on each line are the tire temps, as measured at the S/F line, OMI on the left side and IMO on the right, just as they are shown in the boxes on the setup pages.)
This indeed also resulted in a new personal-best BRM time for yr. obt. srvnt., so I retroactively applied the same recipe to a Spa setup (where Herr Woeger achieved his initial success):
A nice ride, and another best (for my BRM) laptime, but alas, I don't see much future in this. The BRM is never going to be competitive (except in spec races), so why bother? OTOH, Alison is having excellent results with the Hond...er, Murasama and the, ah, Coventry, so next I will see what I can eke out of these chassis with rock-hard suspensions.
As usual, Dave Kaemmer was right. The godfather of auto racing sims (and auteur of Papyrus' legion of genre-defining games) warned me not to dismiss out of hand GPL's lower-powered Formula 2 and Formula 3 cars (called--for legal reasons--the Advanced Trainer and Novice Trainer, resp.) in "Four-Wheel Drift," the strategy guide that shipped with the game. So what did I do? I dismissed the F2 and F3 cars out of hand.
My reasoning was that these "training wheels" (ca. 270 horsepower for the F2 car and ca. 135 hp for the F3, according to Kaemmer, although the real-world figures were more like 200 and 125 hp; they also have slightly less grip) are so different from the full-blown Formula 1 cars (called "Grand Prix" cars in the game, again for legal reasons) that nothing you might learn from mastering them would prepare you for the shock of the 400-hp GP cars (with about as much traction as a modern NASCAR stocker--their speeds up through the Esses at Watkins Glen are startlingly similar).
My solution: short shift. By simply keeping the revs below about 6000 rpm, I reckoned you could get familar with the F1 car chassis without all that tire-shredding torque, and not have to unlearn all those bad habits you'd likely acquire from driving the mild-mannered F2/F3 chassis. In other words, you can't realistically "practice" for a nuclear strike; you either do it or you don't.
I have come belatedly to appreciate the joys of the "trainers," particularly the F2 cars, not so much as learning aids (I still don't think they have much application here), but in their own right. Sure, they're easier to drive. And more rewarding. As anybody who's ever owned a Fiat 750 knows, it's a lot more fun to drive a little car fast than a big one. However, that's not the half of it.
The implications for online racing are potentially enormous. If anybody puts together a viable F2 or F3 series (or both), GPL will have the "farm" system it needs. And unlike the F1 events, F2 and F3 races have little or no appeal to the kind of bozos who like to crash out of races, taking as many legitimate competitors with them as possible. (Although, heck, there are already "over-40" online leagues for duffers like me.) Or to those who can cut the occasional 1:05 lap at the Glen...but can't keep it on the road for a 9-lap sprint race. You really have to be *serious* about racing to want to drive in the low-powered classes.
Implications for AI racing, too. I find the AI cars much easier to contend with in the lower classes. Instead of worrying about controlling my own car (the F1 cars always feel like I have a tiger by the tail...and can't let go), I have a lot more freedom to concentrate on the opposition. (You can force the AI cars to race at F2 or F3 speeds simply by going to your player.ini file and changing the "driverRating =" figure in the Personal Information stanza to "2" for F2 or "1" for F3...confusing, but true.)
Not only do the F2/F3 cars require different driving techniques (it's much harder to use the throttle to steer the car, for one thing; for another, you will also come to treasure every precious rpm that you've squandered in the big cars; and you'll find the correct "line" becomes much more important...and do-able), they also require different setups. Having 400 horsepower on tap can mask a lot of chassis faults. Making do with less is tricky. By now I've spent a hundred hours or so in the little buzz-bombs (they have a stentorian, 4-cylinder honk), and am here to report that they are *enormously* sensitive to minute changes in shock and--particularly--toe settings (more so than, say, spring and bar rates, to which they are kind of numb, except at the extremes).
But while the F2 cars are within a couple of seconds-per-lap of the F1 times (at most tracks), the F3 cars are way off the pace. So slow that half the corners at Spa, say, simply cease to exist. You can take the Masta kink (or Monza's Curva Grande) flat out, for example. (I know, I know--you never lift anyway.) There is some historical precedent here. The F3 cars raced on many of the same circuits (the F3 bash at Monte Carlo was infamous), and the F2 cars sometimes raced concurrently with the F1 fields (Jackie Ickx was sensational at the German GP in a F2 Matra), but for the most part, the F3 cars simply aren't all that challenging (nor, with only 4 gears, are they that easy to set up), so I'll confine the rest of this discussion to the F2 Lotus. (Tip: the AI cars are a pushover at Silverstone, if you haven't won a race yet.)
Another couple of benefits: the F2 and--particularly--the F3 engines aren't nearly as frangible as the GP cars', and the lower-powered cars don't lunge off the line with as much ferocity.
As ornery as the Lotus is in its F1 guise, it is a dreamboat to drive in F2. Again, the best in class, but without the life-and-death struggle to keep it on the road. Another couple of arbitrary limitations: I have yet to master the Ring (I'm saving the best for last); I have never liked Mexico; and I'm still embarrassingly slow at Monte Carlo, so I offer no advice for these tracks. As for the others:
(N.B. The last three numbers on each line are the tire temps, as measured at the S/F line, OMI on the left side and IMO on the right, just as they are shown in the boxes on the setup pages.)
Track notes: This seems like the lowest-traction venue in GPL, but two of the slowest turns (Crowthorne and Clubhouse) are reverse camber, which doesn't help. I tried to set the car up the way CART teams do for low-speed, high-G street circuits (e.g., disconnect the bars), but after a lot of fruitless experimentation I wound up with settings little different from the other tracks in GPL.
Track notes: I've been 'round the barn with asymmetrical setups here, but in the end I'm only willing to risk dissimilar spring rates (asymmetrical geometry tends to throw the car off balance under braking). Unlike the big cars, you don't need to promote oversteer for the della Roggia and Ascari turns. I set the coast-side ramp angle high to smooth the throttle transients, and simply ate the braking hit at the end of the back straight.
Track notes: Like Zandvoort, you've got to have the right intermediate gears here, because you use them a lot. Likewise, you need the right G1 to pull you out of the Moss hairpin without wheelspin. Likewise, the right top gear, so you peak just going over the crest of the hill. (Can-Am cars did spectacular back-flips here in the late '60s.) Also like Zandvoort, you need absolute steering authority--you cannot afford an "off."
Track notes: The Nouveau Monde hairpin is a pisser, isn't it? I invariably overshoot or undershoot. You need to move the brake balance forward so you can retain some ability to steer whilst braking. I'll admit to trying to learn Rouen with all the driver "aids" (ABS, ATC, auto shifter) turned on, but that darned hairpin almost always gets me anyway. I juggled the gears until the shift points were moved away from corner exits (where spiking the torque can unsettle the car).
Track notes: Handling is immaterial here; the track is a 5-pointed star, so you just need to have the right gears to pull smartly from one point to the next. Even the Hangar Straight, which looked so long in Geoff Crammond's F1 sims, is barely good for 150 mph in a F2 car. All in all, a boring track with a low cockpit workload (unlike, say, Mosport, which really wrings you out). Drag racing, anyone?
Track notes: Just as with the F1 cars, Spa demands the stiffest setups in the game. To maximize your Vmax (top speed), you can set the front and rear toe to zero to minimize rolling resistance. Note that I've applied Wolfi Woeger's "zero compliance" (low-rider) setup principle here. Seems to work; I've been competitive with the AI cars.
Track notes: One of two tracks that *always* demand asymmetrical setups (Monza is the other). The track's high crown (camber) makes dialing in the suspension camber tricky. The Lotus usually takes either -1.00 or -1.25 deg at the front; here it's the former. If you're really leaning on it, you might even try -.75 (the faux banking effect promotes negative camber gain). Your setup should emphasize stability through the Esses...and maximize your exit speed as you spill onto the straight.
Track notes: Home of the partial throttle (I get leg cramps just thinking about it). You're almost never all the way on the loud pedal...or off it. You need to unlock the coast-side ramp angles to soften the many throttle transients, even at the expense of braking for Tarzan. AndI I find micrometric adjustments to the toe--particularly at the rear--strongly affect the car's balance here.
These dalliances may have no application whatsoever to furthering your career in F1, but if you're frustrated in the Big Time, give F2 (or F3) a try. I'll eat my virtual hat if you don't enjoy the change.
New section on the Brabham added 4/3/99:
As I suspected, the F2 cars all use the same (270-hp, approx.) "spec" engine, as reader Michael Hausknecht proved by running extensive fourth-gear acceleration tests from 60 to 100 mph (to avoid wheelspin and aero artifacts) with the cars ballasted to the same weight, same gearing, same number of clutches, etc. All other chassis parameters for each F2 car, i.e., weight, weight distribution, polar moment, physical dimensions, gearing, etc., appear to be simply carried over from their F1 counterparts. This suggests that the lightest car in the game should have an inestimable advantage in F2 (unlike the F1 cars, where heavyweights like the Honda and the BRM are somewhat compensated by having more powerful engines). Michael reasoned that since the Brabham is the lightest chassis, it should be the fastest car, so I undertook another round of tests--groan!--to prove or disprove his theory.
Indeed, at each track, the Brabham achieved a higher Vmax (top speed) than the Lotus, suggesting that it has less aerodynamic drag (probably not its Cd., which is a relative figure, but almost certainly due to its smaller frontal area). The obvious venue to put this to the test is Spa, with its wide-open straights. Sure enough, the Brabham's higher top speed (by 2-4 mph in most instances) translated into faster lap times there...by almost two seconds/lap. Again, at Monza, the F2 Brabham (which would be the BT-23 upon which the F1 BT-24 was based) was faster...but only by a couple tenths of a second. And also at Silverstone (by a couple of tenths), which is simply eight drag races per lap (and a farly low Vmax), favoring the Brabham's lighter weight...cornering ability--or the lack of it--to the contrary notwithstanding.
Everywhere else, however, the Lotus (which would be the Lotus 48, no relation whatsoever to the 49) cut slightly faster laps, probably because it's easier to drive at the limit. That is, easier for *me* to drive. (N.B. Since the Ferrari is also reasonably light, I tried a couple of setups for Zandvoort, a pure handling track where the F1 Ferrari always shows up well against the competition. [There *was* a F2 Ferrari, BTW, the Tipo 166, but it didn't appear until 1968, Tino Brambilla up.] No joy. I have no idea why, and I'm too burned out by now to conjure any effete theories, much less the tests that would prove them out.) Anyway, these are the setups I brewed up for the Brabham.
Track notes: Sorry, I lost my tire-temp notes. Given the Brabham's higher top speed and the extraordinary length of the straight here, I was surprised that the Lotus was faster...at least with me at the wheel. A better chauffeur could undoubtedly get more out of the BT-23 chassis, but he/she be not me.
(N.B. The last three numbers on each line are the tire temps, as measured at the S/F line, OMI on the left side and IMO on the right, just as they are shown in the boxes on the setup pages.)
Track notes: This setup is only 2/10ths sec. faster than my Lotus setup, and not nearly as easy to drive. For qualifying, I shorten G2-G5 and just rev it to death (although I still have to shift up and down between the two Lesmos, something I'd go to almost any lengths to avoid in the squirrelier F1 cars).
Track notes: What can I say? The world's most boring track. It's hard to imagine Blighty managed to produce superstars like Moss, et alia, if this is where they learned to race. Too bad the 1967 British GP wasn't held at Brands Hatch. And those 4-abreast starts! Yackety-schmackety.
Track notes: I had to powerslide the car around like Black Jack (Brabham) himself to smooth out the response/gain of the car's suspension system, i.e., it's easier to drive fast than slow. This is a Q and Novice-race setup, with G4 short enough that you max out before Haut de la Cote (at the top of the hill), and again before Blanchimont, the penultimate turn. For longer races, where engine fragility becomes critical, I lengthen G4 to 25/28 (3.47) to keep the engine under 7500 rpm and/or eliminate 2 shifts.
For comparative purposes, here are my best F2 times to date (bear in mind, I'm not the fastest knife in the drawer, but the setups above were good enough to get me on the front row at each track with a box-stock driver.ini and a well-seasoned NPT):
I'm sure you can do better. Make my day: email me and tell me by how much.
-- Steve Smith
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